Filipino International Master (IM) elect Edgar Reggie Olay bagged the gold medal in the National Blitz Chess Championships 2018 Open Division held at the Bukit Merah Community Club in Jalan Bukit Merah, Singapore on Saturday, August 11, 2018 here.

The Davao City and Kidapawan City pride Olay, a chess instructor here scored perfect 11 points in the eleven-round tournament organized by the Singapore Chess Federation with tournament director is International Organizer (IO) Thomas Hoe while International Arbiter (IA) Nisban Jasmin served as Chief Arbiter in the three minutes plus two seconds increment time control format.

“I would like to congratulate International Master (IM) elect Edgar Reggie Olay for giving us pride. This win surely cement, yet again, your position as one of the Filipino top chess players. May you continue to inspire Filipinos in the field of sports (chess).” said Suelo, an active member of International Churches of Christ (ICOC) of Singapore.

Olay won over Yi Feng Ian Ho in the first round, Sheng Feng Ng in the second round, Ende Matthew Lew in the third round, Fide Master (FM) Ashvin Sivakumar in the fourth round, International Master (IM) Zhen Yu Cryrus Low in the fifth round, Grandmaster (GM) Buenaventura “Bong” Villamayor in the sixth round, International Master (IM) Enrique Paciencia in the seventh round, Fide Master (FM) Arlan Cabe in the eight round, Candidate Master (CM) Zhi Rong Benjamin in the ninth round, Fide Master Qing Aun Lee in the tenth round and Winston Elmer Arrocena in the eleventh and final round.

Olay also topped the July edition of the Asean Chess Academy Rapid Open Chess Championships being held at the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre last July 7, 2018 and helped the Philippine Team (Isaiah 40) win the Nanyang Racial Harmony Chess Team Challenge 2018 Open division held at the Nanyang Community Club last July 29, 2018.